ST. IGNACE S t r a i t s


Illustration by Otto M. Vondrak. Not all railroads and stations shown. Not an offi cial map. ©2015 White River Productions


o f M a c k i n a c MACKINAW CITY


S.S. Chief Wawatam sailing route


Levering Pellston


Traverse City Mackinaw


City MICHIGAN GRAND RAPIDS DETROIT Alba Antrim Mancelona


TRAVERSE CITY Acquired


Manistee-Bay View route abandoned February 1982


Frankfort Elberta


AA ferry routes abandoned April 1982


Thompsonville Kaleva Manistee


Missaukee Jct. Maton


CADILLAC


February 1982 Grawn


Kingsley Fife Lake Walton Jct. Elmira February 1982 Bay View Charlevoix Petoskey Acquired Alanson Kegomic


Inverness


Boyne Falls


Williamsburg


Kalkaska So. Boardman


0


5


10 MILES


15


20


Frankfort-Alma route acquired Oct. 1, 1982


Tustin Leroy


Marion Clarence Reed City


CO - Chesapeake & Ohio PM - Pere Marquette CR - Conrail PRR - Pennsylvania Railroad GTW - Grand Trunk Western MTC - Michigan Transportation Co. SOO - Soo Line DSSA - Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic AA - Ann Arbor Railroad TSBY - Tuscola & Saginaw Bay MIGN - Michigan Northern DM - Detroit & Mackinac


Clare Big Rapids


Morley Stanwood


Howard City Pierson


Cedar Springs


Sand Lake GTW


Greenville Rockford


COMSTOCK PARK GRAND RAPIDS


CO (PM) Lovell 47 Edmore ALMA


Rosebush


Green Bay & Western) a boat load of coal might be considered too much of a good thing. Moreover, the Chesapeake & Ohio interchange track at Reed City could not accommodate trains the length of the coal move, so the Chessie System delivered the cars by pulling through the interchange track and backing onto the MIGN mainline. The Michigan North- ern was successfully blocked at the C&O connection until the cars could be moved north. Two of the Alcos were immediate- ly put to work hauling 20-car trains to the available yard space at Cadillac (29 miles), and the third Alco was used on a snowplow train to help keep the railroad open. The entire tale of snow blockage, lo- comotive failure, and an unfortunate altercation between a wing of the snow- plow and a highway overpass is a wor- thy story in itself, but MIGN’s Alex Huff summed it up with, “Although it took us almost all winter, we were able to get the coal to Algoma Steel via the Soo Line.” As spring 1977 arrived, the tired railroaders of Michigan Northern looked forward to some well-deserved rest. The lull in business lasted until Sep- tember. That month the Interstate Com- merce Commission granted the nation’s railroads a five percent general freight rate increase. Michigan Northern, how- ever, decided not to raise rates, but to “flag out” of the otherwise industry-wide policy. By an obscure quirk in the ICC regulations then in force, the results were far reaching. By ICC rules, any long haul carload shipment which made even a small part of its journey over a flagged out railroad would benefit from the lower rate for its entire route. A car- load of lumber from the Pacific North- west to the East could save about $150 by being routed over Michigan Northern. While other railroads that lost the traffic howled in protest, 1978 saw some 3000 carloads routed via Michigan Northern. To handle this increase in business, Michigan Northern went locomotive shopping, and the old PRR enginehouse at North Cadillac was soon surrounded with two additional RS3s from Chicago & North Western and other units. Unfor- tunately, one of the original acquisitions, Central of Georgia RS3 No. 151, suffered an electrical cabinet fire and was retired in March 1977. The search for additional locomotives continued. In early 1978, John Kunzie’s Castro-


lite Corp. of Woodstock, Ill., purchased the last two remaining Baldwin RF16 “Sharknose” cab units, Nos. 1205 and 1216, from the Delaware & Hudson. The units were soon leased to MIGN and were delivered to the railroad by the C&O at Reed City on April 17, 1978. Unfortunately, while the units were able to operate together for a few trips, the 1205 proved to be an operational disap-


Mayfield Summit City


MGIN (PRR)


DM (NYC) SOO (DSSA)


MTC


MGIN (PRR)


CO (PM)


MGIN (PM)


CO (PM)


MGIN (PRR)


CO (PM)


CR (PRR)


L A K E


M I C H I G A N


MGIN (AA)


GTW


CO (PM)


CO (PM)


CO (PM)


MGIN (PRR)


CO (PM) to Manitowoc, Wis.


MGIN (CO)


MGIN (AA)


CO (PM) CO (PM)


MGIN (AA)


CO (PM)


TSBY (AA)


CO (PM)


GTW


to Kewaunee, Wis.


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